The present invention relates to an automatic loading disc player.
Automatic loading disc players have a playback mechanism disposed in a player housing and including a turntable and a pickup, and a disc transfer mechanism for automatically transferring a disc into a prescribed playback position on the turntable, or a position in the vicinity thereof. Such automatic loading disc players automatize various disc playback procedures such as placing a disc on the turntable and guiding the pickup onto the disc, for example.
Most such automatic loading disc players include a positioning device for positioning a disc in a prescribed location on the disc transfer mechanism. One example of such a positioning means includes a plurality of engagement members on the disc transfer mechanism which are engageable with an outer peripheral edge of the disc for positioning the disc with respect to the disc transfer mecahnism. Since the engagement members are designed for use with discs of the a single diameter only, a conventional automatic loading disc players cannot play discs of different diameters.
While a disc is being played back on the disc player, the disc must be disengaged from the engagement members on the disc transfer mechanism. Therefore, the disc player requires a special driving device for moving the engagement members into and out of engagement with a disc, and hence the player is costly to manufacture.
There has been proposed an automatic loading disc player which needs no such special driving device. In the proposed automatic loading disc player, the disc transfer mechanism has thereon a plurality of fixed engagement members engageable with an outer peripheral edge of a disc. The engagement members are formed and arranged such that there will be a predetermined gap between the engagement members and the outer peripheral edge of the disc after the positioning of the disc is completed. This arrangement is however disadvantageous in that the disc as positioned is liable to be displaced since it is freely movable in a range defined by the gap.